I hate rain
by animezealot196
Summary: Zuko has striven hard and has finally gone from 'Banished Prince' to 'Fire Lord'. But it doesn't seem to be end of his work. Destiny is a honorable prospect to have, yet also is a heavy burden to carry and our beloved fire bender learns more of this every passing day. i do not own atla.


Zuko rubbed his sore neck and tried to keep his eyes open, straining his mind to grasp what the white-bearded man was saying. The High Priest was adorned in grand, voluminous robes of scarlet with golden strips lining the edges. To top it all off, he wore a high-topped maroon hat, with intricate designs wrought by a golden thread. In other words, it was typical Fire Nation attire. Zuko noticed, and a fact that his teachers had reminded him constantly enough, how the High Priest carried his garment; with the utmost solemnity and decorum, completely different from what Zuko did.

Even now, he could feel the heavy silk of his Fire Lord's robes sticking to his legs. In his long time of exile, he had quite forgotten how humid his home became at this time of the year. Trying desperately to conceal his fidgeting from the High Priest and the other guests on the table, who surprisingly all sat comfortably, although, with rigid statures. Zuko knew why and he had expected it, many of the influential merchants and Dukes disapproved of his ascension to the throne. They thought he was too young, the scarred, banished, misbegotten Prince. Many had even forgotten his existence, yet none had been expecting for him to suddenly come back with the Avatar and become Fire Lord after Ozai's downfall. He knew many of his people still had to come to terms with the fact, because just a few weeks ago they were all preparing for war, with promises of Ozai becoming the Phoenix King and Azula the Fire Lord; the Fire Nation being the unbeatable, invulnerable ruler of the whole world. The promise of a new dawn that even the mighty Avatar couldn't prevent.

And all that had been overturned in a fortnight.

"…and I believe, your Majesty; that if you increase the funding and support of our temples and the people know about it, they will cherish and honor you more than ever before because there is nothing more sacred than religion for a person." The High Priest ended.

Zuko looks at the man's lined face, contemplating how to answer. The old man _had_ been convincing but Zuko was sure that he would get a lot more of the nation's support if he worked on this year's crop yield. Their numerous lands that had been taken up by army garrisons were finally empty and could be made fertile enough to provide all the jobless farmers with a living. Yet, the Priests were perhaps the only ones who were completely loyal to him, given what had happened to their influence during Ozai's reign.

He opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted.

"Before you make a decision, young Lord," Zuko turned his gaze towards the deep-voiced Minister of Natural Resources, Nadai, who was now speaking, "may I draw your attention to the recent mounds of raw rubies my miners have discovered near the western hills, bordering the Hadarac Desert and are positive to find more if we go further. As you must know, such form of the precious red gems are not found any were else in our nation, or in the world. It will boost the economy greatly if we could establish trade using them. And none of the people will object to a move which will increase their income, _I_ _am_ sure." He completed, twirling his black goatee between his fore-finger and thumb, the shadow of a smirk on his face.

Nadai's extreme self-assuredness disconcerted Zuko and he had always had a hard time trusting him, but, Zuko had kept him; because despite Nadai's easygoing manner, he had a vast knowledge of his work and the unyielding trust of all his employees. It was crucial that Zuko had a person with experience under his command, even if he had been, at first, answering to his father. He calmed his suspicions by the reasoning that he was just businessman, and like the others; interested in only the maximum profit to be gained. And Zuko couldn't start his reign with complete novices.

He started to answer-

"You may be right, Nadai, but you shouldn't overlook the dangers involved in mining there, those hills are notorious for landslides thus nobody lives there for miles, and surely you don't expect the Fire Lord to fund for the entire sustenance of the miners for who-knows-long? Or what if it ended in failure? What answer will then, the Emperor give to the people?" the High Priest, obviously incensed by Nadai's speech, countered.

"Well it is at least something substantial to hope upon, esteemed High Priest," was Nadai's silky retort, though his eyes held a flash of anger, "the people will be able to, at least _see_ that work for their prosperity is being done, and it _will_ be done; I assure you."

Zuko felt his brow wrinkle when the High Priest hastened to argue; other people on the table also joining in, all adamant that their cause was the best one, until the room was filled with a tumult of quarrelling voices and no one passing by, Zuko was sure, would take this meeting to be one of the Lord of the Fire Nation and his subjects.

 _This is so frustrating…._

As the others had seemingly forgotten him, Zuko turned his head towards the large window of the conference room and contemplated how to approach the situation reasonably all the while suppressing the urge to burn the whole table to ashes. The weather outside was completely overcast, so that it seemed evening had arrived in the middle of the day. Signs of heavy rain were galore, but Zuko didn't think about it much; because it had been like this for three days and not a drop of water had fallen. Shifting his collar uncomfortably, he wished that there was at least some wind, though, to overcome the strong level of humidity which only increased indoors.

The sound of a fist slamming on wood made Zuko turn his focus back to the meeting, which had now taken a tenser aura. The reason of the noise had been the long-bearded High Priest who was now standing, glaring at Nadai and breathing heavily. Everybody else also appeared incensed that only a little provocation would make them also act like the old man.

"This is the limit, Nadai." The Priest snarled through gritted teeth, "I have taught you, seen you grow up; I do not think my teachings have been so paltry that you now stand before me in such a disrespectful manner."

Nadai made no comment, but Zuko could sense that if he didn't stop this, a full-blown Agni Kai would start at his conference room. Nor did he think he wouldn't be a part of it on the fact that they were constantly ignoring him. He was the Fire Lord!

And thus, this time he spoke loudly, overriding everyone else who wished to intersect him.

"Esteemed High Priest, please be seated. This is not a meeting held for disputes. We are supposed to come to a decision on the division of the profits this year, so that next year's will be even greater."

They all snapped their heads to him, confirming that fact that he had been overlooked and the color on the High Priest's face drained as he sank down on the chair all the while whispering,

"My Lord…my deepest apologies….how insolent of me…."

His pallor was mirrored on the faces of his other subjects and Zuko was taken aback for a moment. _They must be thinking of father,_ he thought, slightly curios about how strict his father would have been but still having a vague idea from his childhood memories. He lowered his anger a little, as to comfort them when he addressed them next; for Zuko wanted loyalty, not fear from his subjects.

"I have come to a decision, after I have relayed it to you; there will be a vote. If my idea loses the majority vote we will further discussion," Zuko continued, thinking his head would split if he had to stay here a minute longer, "the funds will be equally distributed, however a small portion will be added to the agriculture sector's sum so that they can travel to the uncultivated lands and make them of use. The army," he turned to the Military chief, "shall be responsible for shipping prisoners of war to their respective homes, with all due respect; in order to reconcile with all the other nations. We will not prosper if our neighbors are hostile to us. Next year, we shall again review this year's goings and decide whether to change anything or not. That is all."

This end was greeted by silence. Dissatisfied silence.

But Zuko was in no mood to continue and his reticence must have shown because most people voted for him in favor, except the Military chief and Nadai, who had both been hoping for more.

 _I can't make_ everyone _happy._

He dismissed them, thinking if there were any possible repercussions of this and how to deal with them as they all filed out. Zuko didn't move though, he would only be greeted by more problems outside. When the door closed he groaned and slumped on the table, knocking of his golden crown.

"Tired, are you Fire Lord? Here, have some soothing ginseng tea."

Zuko jumped and then looked around to find an old, rotund man's smiling face.

"Uncle. Don't startle me like that." He said while putting his head back on the polished table.

Iroh took a seat beside him, calmly pouring tea in a delicate cup which Zuko didn't have the strength to refuse. As he took a weary sip, feeling rejuvenated, he suddenly felt relaxed and grateful to have Iroh by his side to guide and help him. Zuko knew; that in no way, did he achieve everything he did without his uncle's help. He was lost, drunk in his desire for revenge and feelings of resentment, yet Iroh stayed by him, always guiding and forgiving. Not that he was going to tell this to anyone.

"How was the meeting then? I thought I caught a word or few…." Iroh asked, the corners of his mouth twitching.

Zuko groaned again and began relating, losing track of time.

"What's that….? Whoa! It's raining" Zuko stared as he heard the riotous roar of sheets of rain battering the window of the conference room. It seemed to have been going on for a while and Zuko couldn't understand why he hadn't noticed it until now. Iroh had left after a while and he got up too, thinking it was already very late and there were so many things he had to take care of.

 _Yeah…_ they _were supposed to come today too…._

He opened the door and stepped outside, eager to reach the main castle-

 _SPLASH!_

Zuko froze when muddy water splattered around him, covering the bottom of his finest robes and sinking inside of his shoes. He looked down to see himself in ankle-deep brown water and restrained himself from yelping in disgust. He had forgotten that due to the renovation of the _real_ conference room in the main castle, the meeting had been held in a clean shed outside the building. The shed belonging to royalty, it wasn't that different from the original room and no one objected. To reach his home now, however, Zuko would have to wade his way through the pool while thousands of droplets attacked him.

"Hey Zuko!"

Zuko's head snapped up and he burst with hope to see his friends on the far side of the clearing/pool with Aang waving to him.

"I think old sparky is stuck." Toph pointed out in an amused voice.

"I _believe_ , you are very correct." Sokka agreed in a gratified accent and they both grinned before he shouted out.

"Come on, Sparky! Did the tiny water droplets get to you?"

"WHAT?" he answered back, apparently unable to hear them.

"He's asking, are you stuck Zuko?!" Aang hollered.

"This is muck? Yeah it is!" he answered.

The rain started falling with greater intensity, creating such a clamor that it was impossible to hear each other. Taking matter into his own hands Aang hurled himself with his staff (it was a new one, though not the same.) and using water and air bending alike, landed on the roof of the shed where Zuko greeted him with an astonished face.

Jumping down to him, Aang brought his mouth next to Zuko's ear and screamed with all his might.

"ARE YOU STUCK ZUKO?"

Zuko hastily pushed him away and brought a hand to his destroyed ear.

"You don't have to yell!"

"YOU WEREN'T ANSWERING BEFORE." Aang replied, still thinking Zuko wouldn't be able to hear him in a lower volume.

"Stop yelling! I can hear you now."

"Oh! Okay then, what are you doing here? Let's go, we were supposed to go to the beach today."

"You guys never told me you planned that."

"Yeah, Sokka did and they said we'll give you a surprise and bring you along."

Zuko snarled, annoyed.

 _Nobody seems to think consulting me is important._

"Well, you can tell _them_ that I am not coming. I am busy."

"Oh. Don't be so childish Zuko; every person needs to lay back. So come on!"

Aang proceeded to turn and catapult himself back to the others when Zuko suddenly pulled him back.

"I can't, I am stuck." He admitted grudgingly.

Aang stared at him for a moment with an expressionless face before getting back on his two feet beside the seething Fire Lord.

"Well, why didn't you day so?" he muttered, before widening his stance and raising his arms. The ever-increasing lake of water moved simultaneously with his hands and formed a brown arch in front of them, made to protect both their heads and body from getting wet. Zuko felt his hopefulness return, there was at least one positive thing about his life; he was friends with the Avatar.

Letting a small smile grace his features, he accompanied Aang to the other side, across the gravel path; amidst the shimmering walls of water that encased them. Halfway through, at a part of the make-shift wall which was clearer, Zuko spotted a wavy, irregular rainbow and stopped by it, slightly mesmerized. Despite his travelling around the world, Zuko had never seen a real-life rainbow; like the ones he had seen in the story books as a child, the one that made a perfect arch of seven colors in the sky. Although what he saw now wasn't the same it still mystified him a little, he hadn't seen an orange so bright, nor thought that yellow could be so pale and the red so deep. And he had practically _lived_ with all these colors.

"Okay Zuko are you here?" he distractedly heard Aang's voice.

"Huh? Yeah…hmmm." He vaguely answered.

"All right, then."

It was at this that Zuko came out of his reverie and realized his position to partly see Aang slacking his arms and abandoning control of the water.

"N-no wait!" He vainly cried as water crashed onto him from all sides.

 _I hate rain….._

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 _ **Poor Zuko…**_

 _ **Well it's somewhat like something I endured a few days previously so I thought Zuko could help me relate.**_

 _ **Tell me though if I missed something, it's been a while since I watched atla.**_

 _ **RxR!**_


End file.
